Thursday, June 9, 2016

Making the Case for and Against Trading Didi Gregorius/Starlin Castro

Here we are back at it again making the case for against
trading some of the New York Yankees big names and bigger contracts before this
season’s trading deadline. We’ve gone over some of the more obvious choices to
be moved and some of the names that have expiring contracts or were mentioned
in trade rumors this winter but today we are throwing you all a little bit of a
curveball. With Jorge Mateo having an absolute monster of a season after an
absolute monster of a season in 2015 the Yankees may find themselves with too
many middle infielders and not enough positions to play them all. Would trading
one of Didi Gregorius or Starlin Castro make sense to clear the spot for Mateo?

The case for trading Didi/Castro:

It clears the way for Jorge Mateo.

The free agent market next season is weak so the Yankees
could get a haul for both players.

Yeah… not too many good things I see about trading them so
let’s move on.

The case against trading Didi/Castro:

Both are young and under controllable team friendly
contracts which help with the youth movement and help with getting under the
luxury tax threshold.

Didi is a great defensive shortstop, although not without
his flaws defensively mind you, and a young guy a rebuilding team generally
rebuilds around.

The core nucleus and clubhouse presence of these two men are
presumably underrated to most. You can tell they are both a huge part of the
clubhouse family.

New York has proven that middle infielders don’t grow on
trees, well not productive ones anyway, which may lead to more Stephen Drew
like signings.

Jorge Mateo is still in A-Ball. Let him have a monster
season in Double-A or Triple-A first.

I really can’t bring myself to justify trading one of these
two right now. They are both young and under team friendly deals for a bit and
both fit the mold of what the team is trying to do. They can handle their own
with the bat, the defensive side of things has improved with both of them in
the field, they are both young, versatile and flexible and they are both a huge
part of the clubhouse atmosphere. When and if Mateo gets to the higher levels
and starts banging on the door then we can revisit this option but right now
both of these options have to be off the table for me. What say you?